


I Loathe This Ball

by Oscar_is_Wild



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Historical, Historical Hetalia, Other, What am I doing, and his relationship w/ his current superior, and on his bosses, focuses more towards Arthur's thoughts, i am embarrassed tbh, i just wanna explore England's character in his East India era, oh gOd i hope my interpretation of Raffles the person doesn't offend anyone, on his rival, on the girl he didn't recognize, pls kindly tell me if it does, this is silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 17:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10667040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oscar_is_Wild/pseuds/Oscar_is_Wild
Summary: Mid nineteenth century, a ballroom in the center of Buitenzorg, Dutch East Indies.England met Netherlands' eyes and he hated it.Also his boss was a charming bastard.Arthur Kirkland scowled and flushed enough for a decade in just a night.





	I Loathe This Ball

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there people of the read-and-write realm! Greetings.  
> This is not my first time writing a fiction but definitely the first time posting one online HAHAH  
> Forgive me if there are any mistakes or if the language used are kind of weird. Heh
> 
> Oh, I need a name for Netherlands in this fic and so I used one of the most popular ones, Willem. And actually there's a character that I made based on Dutch East Indies at that time.  
> This sets in the 1810s, the era of European East India Companies (trading history in Asia), and England & Netherlands were bitter rivals.

It was back in the mid nineteenth century and the location was a ballroom in the center of Buitenzorg, Dutch East Indies. Arthur was bored. Very bored. His boss, far away over the sea in the land of United Kingdom, somehow managed to get him to attend one of the Dutch’s social function and he could barely escape this one solely because his _boss_ wanted to further the trade connection with the Dutch ruler over Buitenzorg, which also called Project Stealthily-Observing-Netherlands. Okie dokie then, _boss_. Hmph.

He looked over at his current boss in this land, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, or ‘Tom’ as what he wanted Arthur to called him, having a heated discussion over the— _native plant species?_ Ugh, he couldn't care less, with a local high official. He was a nice chap, smart, smooth-talker, and a charmer to the core with a wit to match. The first time they met, England instantly liked him, despite Tom's undying passion for botany and zoology—which both Arthur _hates,_ but the man got acres of jasmine tea gardens so all was forgiven in his book. England recalled their small chit chat over tea time earlier that day, where Tom constantly attacked Arthur with his sudden burst of botanical (yet unwanted) trivias. But no matter how much he liked the man, he was always bored beyond words in these kinds of ball.

Lazily his eyes swept over the center of the room where most people waltzing to a soothing number of, what was it, Bach? to sought a glimpse on his rival (he kept chanting to himself not to hex the monarch, who undoubtedly comforting their arse on that unfortunately comfortable throne) when his eyes then caught the sight of said rival, Netherlands, that God-forsaken-pipe-addict-money-grubber-sorry-excuse-of-an-empire, who was currently dancing with a girl.

The girl in Netherlands’ arms was a locale, England could see from her still-stiff movement and her evening wear, Arthur recalled what Tom told him about the traditional Javanese women clothes were called, was it ‘kebaya’? Well, something like that. And he—wait a second, he thought he had seen that girl when he first arrived at the docks back in Batavia, he thought she was just a random local girl (she ran away when the British troops landed for goodness’ sake) but he changed his mind now. She must be the daughter of some high officials or something, why else could she be here of all places? Arthur then paid attention to her more closely, rather than seeing the damned Dutch in front of her who only would made him boil, he continuously asking himself the reason why he agreed to accept _this bloody assignment_.

Quite a beautiful girl, and short—tiny compared to the man she was unfortunately dancing with, her hair was done nicely in a (traditionally formal, he thought because of the meticulous style) bun. Her face though, she looked a little flushed and kept her eyes anywhere but her partner’s eyes, they looked a little distant.

Arthur laughed inwardly thinking that maybe the girl was not happy with the Dutch as her dance partner, Willem was never a ladies’ man after all, he smirked. Oh the urge to come up to him and cackle shamelessly in his face was real. He snorted, causing several ladies turned to him insulted, he scoffed, pitying them secretly for not knowing who he really was. They would be scandalized all right.

England let his eyes wandered around the (boring) people in the room looking for Tom, he decided he already had enough with this function, but then his eyes caught the girl’s eyes. Her eyes widen a little and Arthur felt his cheeks went a bit pinkish, he let himself a little smile, that went missing the moment Netherlands turned in their waltz and caught sight of Arthur, and realized that he was watching them.

The Dutch man’s eyes went hard with an annoyed glare at the English man, then protectively hardened his grip on the girl, who (Arthur delightfully realized) showed her annoyance by slapping the man’s arm. Netherlands then stirred them away, away from Arthur’s eye sight. That moment left England scowling and wanted to scream his annoyance at his rival— _who did he think he was,_ that bastard! He resolved to fast-paced searching for a glass of scotch.

***

England didn’t see the pair again until the end of the function, when he and Sir ‘Tom’ walked to their carriage. In front of them was Netherlands giving the earlier girl a hand to step onto her carriage. What a gallant effort, Arthur thought bitterly. Then the Dutch man proceeded to enter the carriage by himself—wait _what?_ Now this occurrence made Arthur curious about relations the two might have. Before he could ask the question out loud, beside him Tom let out a little chuckle, “what a pair they make right, old boy?”

Arthur didn’t like being called a ‘boy’ though how old he might looked like. If Tom saw how bristled his country was, he didn't show it and just continued, “the Kingdom of Netherlands and his valuable jewelry, Dutch East Indies.”

Tom let out a deep sigh while watching the carriage in front of them went away, "such a waste of a beautiful land, don't you think? All those exquisite ancient legacies and he only went for the economical prospect she has."

Wait a minute. That girl was—wait... _that girl_ was a colony?

Well now it all made sense, somehow.

“Hmph, the bastard forced his way to her, she doesn’t seem to like his company.” Arthur harrumphed, pretending that he already knew about this newly gathered information.

Sir Thomas just fatherly patted his shoulder (which left Arthur questioning who is the older one here) and told him, “you haven’t seen them around much then, you’d be surprised Arthur.” He smiled warmingly which made England blushed a little, charming git. "Once during my monthly visits (negotiations, England silently corrected) with him, I saw them sharing a smoke in one of the conservatories." The man then dared to chuckled lightly, " _'_ _Ab uno disce omnes'_ , I think they will surprise you, old chap."

Somehow England was pessimistic to that idea. " _'_ _Reductio ad absurdum'._ " His frown continue to deepened through the night, "that country is a slimy git that's for sure, my good Tom. Trust your motherland on this." On second thought, he added, "Ahem... and  _'A_ _ctiones secundum fidei'_. Do not let them get to your head, Tom. You are a good man."

Tom just smiled at him after that then look through the road for their carriage, while Arthur tried to look at anything other than the man next to him. Somehow his blush also deepened. 

***

Their carriage arrived soon after and took them back to the Buitenzorg Palace, Raffles' current residence and England's current lodging.

Now that England knew which one was Netherlands’ precious colony, he intended to cook some way to get to know her better, hopefully to lure her away from the Dutch’s grip. Hopefully. Willem was a scary man after all.

But he didn't have magic didn't he.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Buitenzorg - now Bogor, a city in Indonesia.  
> Batavia - now Jakarta, Indonesia's capital.  
> Ab uno disce omnes - latin for "From one, learn all".  
> Reductio ad absurdum - latin for "Reduction to absurdity".  
> Actiones secundum fidei - latin for "Action follows belief", referring to East India Company which didn't really agree w/ Raffles' ways.
> 
> I am sorry, that was so bad LMAOOOO  
> I want to continue this tbh, but idk... Anyways, thanks for reading xx


End file.
